Peyton Manning voted AP's NFL MVP

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning waves as he leaves the field after the Colts' 23-0 win over the Tennessee Titans in an NFL football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008. Manning threw for 95 yards to put him over 4,000 yards for the ninth time in his 11 seasons. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

"It's been the most rewarding regular season that I've been a part of in my 11 years, and I have to believe a lot of the other players and even coaches might feel the same way."

This has been a most unusual season for the Colts, who normally have the AFC South just about clinched by Thanksgiving. Manning had two operations on his left knee in the preseason, cutting into practice time, blunting his usual precision as a passer and, eventually, leading to a 3-4 start.

From there, with Manning getting sharper by the week, the Colts won nine straight games to secure a wild-card berth and a meeting Saturday night with San Diego.

In that streak, Manning is 209-of-290 for 2,248 yards and 17 touchdowns, with only three interceptions. He extended his NFL record with his ninth 4,000-yard season and finished with 27 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions and a 95.0 passer rating.

"It's just been different," Manning said. "It's been an entirely different season. I think the one thing that's been inaccurate is that the seasons we were starting out 13-0, 8-0, 7-0, that it was easy. So all of a sudden this year we are 3-4 and now things are hard. Believe me, it's never easy to win a game. I've never taken for granted winning a football game."

The folks in Indianapolis might take for granted having Manning behind center, just as Packers and now Jets fans have assumed Favre would be there every week. Favre has started 269 straight regular-season games, the record for quarterbacks. Manning's string is 176 - every game since he was the No. 1 pick in the 1998 draft.

"In other years, everything started fast," Colts running back Dominic Rhodes said. "He's still breaking records. But this year, there were a bunch of negative things said in the beginning, and he brought his best when we needed his best.

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